To the Freedom
by Sermione
Summary: Luke Skywalker is a son of Emperor Darth Vader. He loves his father, but the capture and torture of his best friend, Leia, is something he can't bear. Will he rescue his friend and gain his freedom? oneshot


**TO THE FREEDOM**

* * *

Luke knew he had to turn back. Be on his father's side. He belonged to his father, that was how it meant to be. The sorrowful thing was that he wasn't able to do so anymore.

Luke toyed with the deactivated lightsaber, staring at the holo. His father always said playing with his lightsaber was dangerous, but right now he was holding more important thing. Moreover, he was quite confident that he was skilled enough not to kill himself by mistake.

The hologram showed the room number and the map of the underground prison of the imperial palace. Though he'd been there a number of times before, Luke knew that it was a wise action to be careful at everything. He read the holo again, this time more focused that he even stopped toying with his weapon.

**Jail room 304, prisoner: Princess Leia Organa of Alderaan, accused of being a traitor by aiding the rebels**

Luke clicked the button of the holo-device, and it got off immediately. He grabbed and put it in his pocket, just in case, and with nothing, except of his lightsaber, that is—and stomped out of the room.

He _didn't_ turn back_._

* * *

Luke passed the entrance easily, thanks to his frequent visits alongside his father. The stormtroopers regarded his presence as natural as his father's. Luke wouldn't appreciate the thought normally, but on some exceptional occasion like this, he had to be grateful for that.

He directly headed to the cell Leia is being kept. Luke walked down dozens of corridors so urgently that he had to take a breath when he made it to the cell, and then he glanced at the stormtroopers guarding beside the door. There were two of them, which he could take care of just by a swish of his lightsaber, but he decided not to use his weapon. It wouldn't be necessary, and he definitely wasn't willing to make the whole stormtroopers in the palace his enemy for now.

Luke stood up and held himself straight, trying his best to look like the prince of the galactic empire who he exactly was.

"I am here to interrogate the prisoner. Let me go inside."

The stormtroopers seemed to study each other, though Luke couldn't see their faces. They stayed silent for a while, and when Luke finally went impatient and was to demand again, one of them—the braver one, Luke guessed—opened his mouth.

"With all due respect, sir, we haven't told that you are to question the prisoner. In fact, we assumed that her interrogation was over."

Luke deliberately glared at them.

"Then your assumption was wrong. My father himself told me to question the princess, and my intention is to follow his word. Do you defy?"

The stormtroopers saluted instantly.

"O-of course not, your highness. We will let you in right away."

Luke nodded and added,

"Do not let anyone near while I am inside. Even yourselves."

They probably thought it didn't make sense, but took some steps for the distance.

The door opened, and Luke was left alone, to see Leia Organa.

* * *

"So. When does this 'interrogation' begin, your Imperial highness?"

Leia's first statement after she saw him was hilariously casual enough to make him smile. Luke made an exaggerated shrug and replied,

"In case you forgot, my name is not 'your Imperial highness'. I am Luke Skywalker, and I am here to rescue you, Leia."

Leia grinned, but Luke could tell she was trying to hide her pain which was given by the _real_ interrogation…the one his own father did. Luke erased his smile from the face and carefully asked.

"Are you okay?"

"I should be, if I'm going to let you rescue me," Leia answered, now looking at Luke with friendly love.

"I knew you would come for me."

"Why, Leia?"

Leia raised her eyebrows. "It's obvious. You are kind, righteous, and…you're my friend."

Luke pressed his lips to each other. If only Leia had known how much conflict he went through to make this decision…

"We're running out of time," Luke said, suddenly came to his senses, and turned to Leia. He pulled out a blaster from his pocket and gave it to her and ignited his lightsaber. He shoved the blade at the wall and started to make a hole. Leia gave him a questioning look.

"What's your plan?"

"I have a shuttle waiting right in front of the palace. We make it there."

Leia frowned, still staring at him.

"'We'? Are you going with me too?"

Luke stopped his hand. He was still facing the wall, so Leia couldn't see his face. Luke replied quietly.

"Yes."

"You cannot! You're the prince of the empire. You…"

_You care for __**him.**_

Luke turned sharply to Leia but didn't face her. He looked down to his still humming lightsaber. Its blade illuminated his hand red. It was like blood. Blood of so many people he witnessed. So many who died in the empire's wrath.

Nearly every single time he went to the prison with his father, he saw his father killing the people. Murdering. Yet he hid his feelings, the feelings which almost made him to ignite his lightsaber and stop his father, because…

"I do care for him. Yes, you can say it's love. But I'm sick of it. I can't bare to watch and see the empire's deeds anymore. I want to do something to stop them, Leia."

He shook his head desperately.

"I want to be free."

Leia sighed. "I understand you totally, Luke. If you want, we can get to the rebellion together, okay."

Luke nodded, thanked Leia, and turned back to do his work again. With a twist of his hand, a hole appeared on the wall. He took a deep breath and glanced at Leia. She looked as courageous as usual. He murmured to himself.

"I'm really doing it."

* * *

It turned out, that, just only two teenagers could be the match for the whole stormtroopers guarding the imperial palace. Forget that one of the teenagers is a Force wielder personally trained by Darth Vader and the other one is the princess of a planet, who was also trained to protect herself well. Nevertheless, Luke was quite disappointed by them. They were supposed to be the guards of the _Imperial_ prison!

_Maybe it'll be a good thing to the rebellion_, Luke thought.

Luke and Leia ran though the corridor, Luke defending the blaster bolts—which were stuns, due to the fact that he was the prince—and Leia shooting blaster bolts—which were meant to kill, of course—even better than the professionally trained guards. However, even though stormtroopers were that bad at shooting, they couldn't take care all of them if more troopers came in. Therefore, they were running to the shuttle as hard as possible.

Just when the shuttle came into sight, Luke shivered, sensing the presence he was all very familiar with. He shouted to Leia, holding her hand more tightly.

"Leia! We need to be faster!"

Leia glanced behind, also realizing what he meant. Luke ran with all his might, trying not to reply to his father's words in his head, through the Force…

_Luke. What are you doing? Come back, my son. You are making a big mistake._

The dark presence of his father approached nearer and nearer. Though he was suppressing his anger, Luke could feel his father's rage surging.

Luke almost chocked to sense his father, being so close behind him, ready to catch him…

He gulped as a crazy idea came to him. He had no time to reconsider it, and he said, catching his breath,

"Leia. We need to jump. Can you just hold me?"

"_What_?"

Before Leia say something more, Luke felt the Force warning him, his father ready to hold them with the force, and at the same time, he jumped.

He jumped as far and high like a bird, holding Leia in his arms, struggling to fight of his father to capture him in the air. And that moment, he could feel everything through the Force. His father on the ground, his friend beside him, the people staring him and Leia.

The stormtroppers was shooting them the bolts, but none of them actually hit them, and Luke and Leia landed on the shuttle perfectly.

Leia gasped. "Just…don't do it again."

Seeing Tie fighters gathering, Luke and Leia immediately ran to the cockpit. Luke had piloted the shuttle a number of times before, and it should've felt natural to pilot it now.

He didn't feel so.

Rather, it was weird, to pilot the ship without his father by his side. For all of his life, his father taught him to fly a ship, and now he was flying to escape from his father.

Luke looked down through the window. His father still stood there, staring at his son. He wasn't talking to Luke via the Force, but Luke still could feel his emotion. His father's feelings were always hard to catch; this time it was not. He could almost feel all of his father's emotions.

Anger that his son has left him.

Fear that he will never come back.

But below all that, there was a light, which always made Luke to remain by his father's side for now, despite his brutal acts to the people.

Love for his son.

Luke closed his eyes briefly. He knew his father could be a better person. And he was going to make the light inside him bigger. Bigger enough to change his actions and the galaxy.

Luke whispered, looking at his father's figure which was becoming smaller and smaller as the ship flied to the upper sky.

"I will return, father. I will."

With that he fixed his gaze to the atmosphere of Coruscant. The space was looming to him. The stars and planets shimmered. Luke grinned, welcoming the bigger galaxy he was to experience. In spite of everything that went wrong, he earned the most precious thing, the one he had pursued from all those years.

He was seeing the truth.

Luke set the hyperspace route to the rebel base that Leia told him. He didn't know what he will do, or what he will learn. Nothing was certain, but he knew one thing.

He was, finally, about to reach.

To the freedom.


End file.
